


Shattered

by Spindra (prinxess)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, Betrayal, Character Death, Class Differences, Class Issues, Devotion, Dystopia, F/F, Homeworld - Freeform, Master/Servant, Physical Abuse, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 02:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5649931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prinxess/pseuds/Spindra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She had cracked long before they ever touched her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shattered

Blue Diamond was seething. A valued member of her court had lied. Her prediction proved false. She'd fled down to the rebel colony. She had done it all with a _ruby_. One that had dared fuse with this gem far superior right before Blue Diamond's eyes. The court was in a frenzy. Aristocratic gems were flying about the room, giving and carrying out orders as fast as they could manage. Lower rank gems scurried even quicker, not wanting to risk their own skin by upsetting anyone any further. Their leader was seated at the head of the room. The curtains were drawn closed, creating a small bubble of quiet fury in the midst of chaos. Blue Diamond and her pearl were sealed off from the rest of the court.

Pearl kept her eyes down and her hands clasped. Feathery bangs covered half her face and she was careful to remain still and poised. The only sound she could hear was the the scratching of Blue Diamond's nails against the arms of the chair. She tried to keep her mind blank but she couldn't help but wonder at the incorrect behavior she'd witnessed today. Blue Diamond had a particularly strong penchant for structure. Disorder did not belong in her court. 

"Who do you belong to?"

Pearl tilted her head up to the towering, seated figure beside her. Having been lost in thought, she did so a moment too late. She found herself sprawled across the floor before she even felt the blow. Blue Diamond reiterated herself, louder this time. Pearl felt as though she were drowning in her voice.

"I belong to you, Blue Diamond. I am yours." Her voice wavered. She hastily repositioned herself prostrate.

"Do not try to placate me, now. Of all things, you should know your place. Stand!"

Pearl sat up onto her knees before rising gracefully from the floor.

"Dance."

Pearl obediently arranged her limbs into a starting pose and closed her eyes. Her arms swayed in and out from her body as she floated across the floor of their small, enclosed space. A leg would kick out. She would bend, jump, and twirl. She could not see but felt Blue Diamond's steely-eyed stare follow every rehearsed motion of her form. A flick of the wrists. A turn of the head. An elegant dip and bow. Pearl finished her routine and remained in her ending pose. She stayed fixed and silent, not a single huff of labored breath broke the still of the moment. This was what she was made for.

Calmer now, Blue Diamond spoke. "Just now you were so concentrated on your task. You were exactly as a pearl should be. What was that hiccup before? Were you thinking of something? What stole your attention from me?"

Pearl opened her mouth but before she could speak she was sternly warned not to deny the accusations. Pearl closed her mouth again. She stood up straight, bowed her head, and clasped her hands together once again. She was scared, but she knew what the right answer to any question would be. She could not bring herself to admit to her distraction.

"I only think of what would please you, Blue Diamond."

Pearl saw the strike coming this time. She stumbled from the force and dropped to her knees, both hands pressed to both stinging cheeks.

"I did not come to own you so that you may think! You are my accessory! A toy! A distraction! A little piece of discipline in a pretty dress! If there should be any correct behavior exhibited today, it should be coming from you!"

Pearl's face faltered further. She stuttered, trying to protest. She was a good pearl. She always did as she was told. She loved Blue Diamond. Blue Diamond was her everything. She lived for Blue Diamond. Blue Diamond took care of her. There was no one better than Blue Diamond.

A shadow slunk over Pearl's meager form as Blue Diamond stood. She gazed up desperately at the glowering set of blue eyes way above her.

"Perhaps I have spoiled you," Blue Diamond bent to cradle Pearl's swelling cheeks with a surprisingly gentle hand. She spoke in a quiet, icy tone. "You may not understand, but I must stop this before it grows any further. Today has reminded me of how fragile our whole way of life is. It is best for gemkind that I reinforce our values without exception."

Pearl felt tears begin to spring from the corners of her eyes. She wasn't completely sure as to why. "I... But I... Blue Diamond... You and I... I..." She began to tremble and leaned her face harder into the cold blue palm cupped around her cheek.

"My Pearl... 'I' is a word you were not made to know."

She roughly slid her hand away from her pearl and returned to her seat. She called for a soldier to enter the makeshift chamber.

"This pearl is defective. Have her shattered immediately."

Pearl's wails brought the room to a standstill. Higher ranked gems scowled down at the writhing pearl being dragged across the floor before returning to their duties, annoyed that such an insignificant gem would cause such a commotion. Lower ranked gems averted their eyes and seamlessly returned to their work, afraid to meet the same fate but relieved that it was only a pearl and not some friend or a gem that actually mattered. The loss of this pearl would not affect the synergy of their work.

Pearl pulled and jerked and fought and screamed and bawled for her diamond. She felt her skin bruising and scraping against both the floor and the hands of those who held her captive. Her throat was raw and sore and her eyes and nose were burning. The tears blurred her sight. She'd never cried before but now she felt as if she would never stop.

She was set up for her sentence. The executioners were swift and efficient in their work. The moment before Pearl felt the lethal force brought down against her chest, she uttered the one word she had been diligently trained to never say in all her life.

"Why?"


End file.
